Deworming nightmare

Deworming is a must. But it comes with side effects that we were not prepared for. We took our babies to the shelter for their preventative care, and the vet (overwhelmed after having performed 50 surgeries that morning without her full staff on board) casually mentioned the kittens may have diarrhea and be tired.

What we didn’t know is that “tired” would mean Rocky would suffer temporary paralysis of his front paws for about 24 hours. It was scary. It was heartbreaking. He was trying to get up, but his body would fall forward. And of course we realized what was going on in the middle of the night, on a weekend. He was alert, bright eyed and ate well if you brought the food right under his chin. He would roll on his back and play with Henry. If I pinched his paws (not hard), he would yelp a bit. Googling the symptoms was actually reassuring since we figured out the probable cause, but we couldn’t find how long it would last. He spent all that time cuddling up next to us, nestled in the bed blankets.

All is fine now. But be warned in case this happens to your kittens.

Doesn’t he look like the most happiest kitten in the whole wide world?